Hi, I'm Tom Holland, historian and host of the Rest Is History podcast, and I'm here

to talk about my new book, Pax, which is a portrait of Rome, the ultimate superpower

at peace and war, from the building of the Colosseum and Hadrian's War to the destruction

of Jerusalem and Pompeii. Pax is a book that is panoramic in its scope. This is Rome,

the supreme carnivore of the ancient world, the Siberian tiger, the tyrannosaur, at

the very pinnacle of its greatness. Get your copy now in hardback, e-book or audio book.

Thank you.

Hello, and welcome to this edition of Between the Lines, the podcast that desiphers the handwriting,

unfolds faded pages and dips into the details of Diaries, log books and letters written

during this same week, there or thereabouts, in 1943, some 80 years ago.

Let's start with a quick recap of the situation.

The southwest Pacific Theatre is humming with activity. Under the direction of Admiral

Bullhulsie, Allied troops land on the islands of New Georgia and Rendova. This is Operation

Cartwheel, and over the next few days the US forces will go on to defeat the Japanese

on Van Gunu Island. Chronologically, we're pretty much in the middle

of the war now. There's been a huge drain on human resources and all sides, but we're

also starting to see an increase in the momentum of technological development that might supplant

the need for more boots on the ground. For once the phrase, it's not rocket science

really couldn't be further from the truth. For Germany at least, their strategy in North

Europe is somewhat geared to the success of ballistic missiles, and this is the week

the V2 rocket gets its first test launch at Pina Munda. This is also the week in which

the Romanian Foreign Minister Mikhail Antonescu tried to convince Benito Mussolini that now

...